Secret Service protection for former President Trump's adult children is off to an expensive start. The first month after Trump's term ended, which included multiple trips and vacations for the Trump children and their spouses, cost the government at least $140,000 for transportation and hotel rooms, the Guardian reports. The figures were collected by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog group. They don't include the cost of the Secret Service stay at Trump's Palm Beach, New Jersey and Briarcliff, New York, properties, which CREW said probably is the biggest cost, per Forbes. The Trumps have stayed often at Trump sites since January. The former president extended Secret Service details for six months for his adult children and their spouses just before he left office. That's not unusual, but it's unusual to do it for family members who are adults.
In addition to saving the Trumps the cost of a private security detail, the arrangement adds revenue to properties Trump owns. The watchdog filed a Freedom of Information request with the Secret Service, which didn't provide that cost. "While it may be tempting to put the story of the Trump family’s profiteering in the past," CREW said in a statement, "we cannot until they have actually stopped directing taxpayer money into their own bank accounts." The Washington Post found last year that Trump properties had billed the government more than $1.1 billion during his presidency—including a charge of more than $20,000 for a cottage and rooms while the property was closed to guests because of the pandemic. CREW said that at the current pace, the tab for six months of Secret Service protection will approach $1 million, per People. (More Secret Service stories.)